Cornell scored twice in the third period to post a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Union. Kirill Gotovets is still looking for his first point of the year, but doubled his season plus/minus total to plus-4.

Adam Wilcox (pictured, Univ. of Minnesota photo) continued his stellar play as a freshman, stopping 24 of 25 shots as top-ranked Minnesota beat rival North Dakota, 5-1. UND scored the game’s first goal on the power play before the Gophers answered with five unanswered goals. Wilcox leads the WCHA in wins and his 2.04 GAA in conference play is second best. Friday was his 20th straight start. Wilcox has allowed three total goals against then No. 1 Boston College, then No. 2 Notre Dame, and against rival UND. Minnesota and UND face off again on Saturday. Lightning prospect Brendan O’Donnell should be back in the lineup for the second game; he’s been a scratch on Fridays recently.

They say a 3-goal lead is the worst in hockey and Cornell proved it yet again, blowing a 3-0 first period lead en route to a 6-4 loss in the championship game of the Florida College Classic in Estero. The victory was only Maine’s fourth of the season against 11 losses and a tie.

Brian Hart (pictured, Eric DuBose photo) opened the game’s scoring in the first five minutes, but that is all that Harvard would get on the board in a bad home loss to Northeastern. The Crimson (4-5-1) fell under .500 for the season, to a team that was 5-9-1 coming into the game. Not good. Sharks pick Cody Ferriero had four goals for the Huskies. He came into the game with one goal in 15 games this year.

Jimmy Mullin played on the top line for the second straight game and had nine shots on goal to lead the RedHawks in that category for the second straight game. Miami outshot the Colonials, 51-21, but couldn’t beat senior goaltender Eric Levine (undrafted). Levine came into the game with a 7-2-2 record, 1.98 GAA, and .949 save percentage. He’s listed at 6’3” and likely has a pro contract in his future. Robert Morris’ 1-0 win gave them the Three Rivers Classic championship in Pittsburgh.

Matt Peca had a goal and an assist as the Bobcats topped the Mavs, 5-4. Jordan Samuels-Thomas swatted home Peca’s centering feed three minutes into the third period to give the Bobcats their fifth goal. Quinnipiac has now won 11 consecutive games. Lightning prospect camper Andrej Sustr had two shots on goal and was minus-1 for UNO. The 6’8” defenseman remains a free agent.

Adam Wilcox wasn’t tested too often, but came up big when needed – like stopping a breakaway – to lead the Gophers to a 4-0 win over Air Force. The Gophers will face top-ranked Boston College on Sunday in the finals of the Mariucci Classic.

WMU advanced to the finals of the Great Lakes Invitational tournament thanks to a fourth-round shootout win over Michigan State at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Western is looking for their first GLI tournament win and will face Michigan Tech in the championship on Sunday. Witkowski played big minutes against MSU’s top line, but took a minus with 17 seconds left in regulation when the Spartans scored on a 6-on-5 advantage. With the puck dumped into the corner, Lightning free agent target Dan DeKeyser chased the puck and his partner, Witkowski, faded to the strong side as a defensemen is supposed to do. WMU’s three forwards watched from the strong side near the slot, leaving the backdoor wide open. A cross-crease pass from a forward who outbattled DeKeyser found an unmarked MSU player who banged the puck into the net. WMU had played well defensively throughout the game and that was MSU’s best scoring chance. Witkowski had several deep rushes and his confidence with and without the puck is at an all-time high.

Jimmy Mullin (pictured) was moved to the top line with former Lightning camper Austin Czarnik and Curtis McKenzie and responded by leading the RedHawks with seven shots on goal against the Buckeyes on Friday night. The top line spot was opened by the departure of Riley Barber, who is representing the United States at the World Junior Championships in Russia. Miami’s top line combined for 15 of the team’s 26 shots on goal. Miami will face Robert Morris on Saturday for the championship in the Three Rivers Classic in Pittsburgh.

As Kirill Gotovets describes his style, he makes it clear that defense comes first.
Despite recording 15 points over his first two seasons at Cornell University, the defenseman isn’t worried about not finding his name on the scoresheet during the first nine games of his junior year.
His game still evolving, Gotovets knows stats aren’t everything.
“I think I still play the same style, just a little bit unlucky with the points,” he said. “I don’t think it matters how many points I get, I just worry about how I play and how the team plays.”

The Big Red won their second game of the weekend, coming from behind against the Saints for a 3-1 win. Bolt Prospects writer Jeremy Houghtaling was at the game and will have a feature on Kirill Gotovets in the coming days. For a recap of the game, see Jeremy’s Twitter timeline at Twitter.com/jghoughtaling.
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Jimmy Mullin had his first multi-point game of the year with a goal and an assist in Miami’s second win in as many nights over the Nanooks. Mullin’s assist came when he fed a teammate from behind the net and another teammate banged in that rebound. His goal came on a breakaway in which he went 5-hole on the Alaska-Fairbanks goaltender. Miami freshman goalie Ryan McKay had the shutout for the RedHawks. McKay is the former goaltending partner of Lightning prospect Adam Wilcox. The two were together in USHL Green Bay before the Gamblers decided to keep McKay and trade Wilcox.

Matthew Peca (pictured) scored shorthanded in the third period while RPI was on a 5-on-3 power play to give the Bobcats a 2-1 lead. It turned out to be the game-winning goal and Quinnipiac remained unbeaten in ECAC play (6-0).

The Sioux badly outshot the Tigers for the second night in a row, but this time they came away with a victory – albeit in overtime. UND had 42 shots to CC’s 20. The game-winning goal was scored by Drake Caggiula (2013), his fifth of the season.

After his 6-game win streak was snapped on Friday night against UNO, Adam Wilcox got some revenge on the Mavericks with a 3-2 win on Saturday night. Wilcox made several big saves in the second period after the Gophers went up, 3-0. UNO scored late in the second and again late in the third period to make things interesting.